Central East Africa's Black Rhino is Disappearing

Photo by Craig Newton/FreeImages.com

There is one animal that lives in Central East Africa that that looks like its mother was a unicorn and its father was an elephant. Do you know what it is? It's the Black Rhino.

The Black rhinoceros is a mammal, and it's not really black. It is a dark gray or brown. But it is big! An adult can weigh over 3,000 pounds. They also have poor eyesight. They can't see very far, but they have great hearing and sense of smell.

Black Rhinos are browsers. They eat all kinds of plants, and are usually seen with their heads down close to the ground so their pointed lips can pull in their food. The sun is very hot where they live, so they eat at night or in the early morning. When it's hot, they lay in the shade or find a mud hole to stay cool. They also have two horns. One is large and one is small. It is the large one that has made them critically endangered.

Photo by Kym Parry/FreeImages.com

Poachers kill rhinos to cut off their large horn and sell it. People believe it can be used in medicine and all types of things. They even use the horn as a handle on a knife.  For more information see Save The Rhino.

Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel!